Ag-LINK Program through Ohio Treasurer's Office

Ohio Farmers Can Now Submit Online Applications for Treasurerís Ag-LINK Interest Rate Reduction Program through March 9, 2012

Application process has been streamlined and simplified to better serve Ohioís agricultural communityThe State Treasurerís office has a strong and rich 27 year tradition of working with Ohioís farmer and lenders to offer an interest rate reduction on their loans and lines of credit.† In continuing this effort, we are proud to announce the beginning of the 2012 Agricultural Linked Deposit Program (Ag-LINK) application period which began on Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012 and will end on Friday, March 9, 2012 at 5 p.m.†

Agriculture is a vital component of Ohioís economy, so much so that the industry employs one in seven Ohioans and pumps $98 billion into the stateís economy each year.† The Ag-LINK program helps offset the operating costs for things like feed, seed, fertilizer and fuel through interest rate reductions on up to $100,000 of a farmerís on new or existing loan or line of credit with the Ohio Treasurerís eligible banks and Farm Credit Lenders.†

This is the first year that the entire Ag-LINK program application will be completed exclusively online.† The Treasurerís office is working to increase and improve our use of technology to better serve Ohioans.† The application process has been simplified and streamlined in order to take advantage of technology to administer the program and make it more user-friendly for lenders and farmers.

In order to qualify for Ag-LINK, farms must be for-profit with their headquarters and more than half of their operations maintained in Ohio.† To qualify, the farmer must apply and be approved for an operating loan or line of credit from a farm credit lender or an eligible bank.† After approval, the farmer may apply for an interest rate reduction from the Ohio Treasuryís Ag-LINK program.†

Below is the timeline for the 2012 Ag-LINK program:

The application period began on Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012.

Ag-LINK applications must be received by the Economic Development Department at the State Treasurerís office no later than 5:00 PM on Friday, March 9, 2012.

Once the application process has been completed, notification of each applicationís status will be sent to each lender no later than Friday, April 6, 2012.

This year, the State Treasurerís office is requiring lenders to confirm acceptance or denial of the linked deposit for each application they have submitted by Friday, April 13, 2012. This is only to confirm that your borrowers will participate in Ag-LINK. Once the application has been approved and confirmed, funding requests can be submitted beginning April 13th.

Funding will begin on Monday, April 16, 2012 and may be requested through Wednesday, June 27, 2012. Requests for funding are due 24 hours prior to the funding date requested.

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Detailed information on the program and eligibility requirements can be found by visiting the State Treasurerís website at www.ohiotreasurer.gov/aglink or by calling the State Treasurerís Economic Development Department at (800) 228-1102 (Option #3).